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Effects of the particle Stokes number on wind turbine airfoil erosion

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Abstract

Under natural conditions, wind turbines are inevitably eroded by the action of sand-wind flow. To further investigate the effects of dust drift on the erosion of the wind turbine blades in sand-wind environments, the effects of the wind velocity, particle diameter, and particle density on the erosion of wind turbine airfoils are studied, and the effects of the particle Stokes number on the airfoil erosion are discussed. The results show that, when the angle of attack (AOA) is 6.1 °, there will be no erosion on the airfoil surface if the particle Stokes number is lower than 0.0135, whereas erosion will occur if the particle Stokes number is higher than 0.015 1. Therefore, there exists a critical range for the particle Stokes number. When the particle Stokes number is higher than the maximum value in the critical range, airfoil erosion will occur. The result is further confirmed by changing the particle diameter, particle density, and inflow speed. It is shown that the erosion area on the airfoil and the maximum erosion rate are almost equal under the same particle Stokes number and AOA. The extent of airfoil erosion increases when the particle Stokes number increases, and the critical particle Stokes number increases when the AOA increases. Moreover, the geometric shape of the airfoil pressure surface greatly affects the airfoil erosion, especially at the curvature near the leading edge.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Energy and Power Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou, 730050, China

    Deshun Li, Zhenxi Zhao, Yinran Li, Qing Wang & Rennian Li

  2. Gansu Provincial Technology Centre for Wind Turbines, Lanzhou, 730050, China

    Deshun Li, Zhenxi Zhao, Yinran Li, Qing Wang & Rennian Li

  3. Gansu Provincial Key Laboratory of Fluid Machinery and Systems, Lanzhou, 730050, China

    Deshun Li, Yinran Li, Qing Wang & Rennian Li

  4. State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Ye Li

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  1. Deshun Li
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  2. Zhenxi Zhao
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  4. Qing Wang
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Correspondence to Deshun Li.

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Project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2014CB046201) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51766009 and 51566011)

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Li, D., Zhao, Z., Li, Y. et al. Effects of the particle Stokes number on wind turbine airfoil erosion. Appl. Math. Mech.-Engl. Ed. 39, 639–652 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10483-018-2267-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10483-018-2267-6

Key words

Chinese Library Classification

2010 Mathematics Subject Classification

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